As I am
by Lavenderpaw
Summary: Koi was never the first Krawk, but he'll always be the best one.


One day in a Neohome, not too unlike your own...

"Maui! Fiery!" It was only bad when she reserved your name for last, but as long as she didn't... "KOI."

Koi carefully counted his paces as he trailed behind his sisters, momentarily wishing he had his sword and a nice, long plank of wood. Raz stood by the door as Koi rounded the corner and grinned a totally Wocky-ish grin when she saw him. He knew that look because for years it'd always been accompanied by her favorite phrase: It's morphing time! She tilted her chin down.

"It's not like that anymore, Koi." Their pet parent said in a soft voice, he didn't have to look down at himself to know what she meant. "We have our agreement."

He nodded slowly, his gray beanie slid forward a bit.

"But I _did_ do something wonderful for this family!"

Maui020304 started, Fiery_Fire_Kid blushed.

"A new box of crayons?!" The Baby Ruki chirruped.

"Nope!" Raz chuckled as she clutched her cheeks.

"A new hairpiece!?" The Desert Kougra insisted.

Koilembala frowned, he had always hoped his sister would stay true to her tomboy ways. The Krawk dug his claws deep into his maroon blazer and leered to the left. Whatever it was, it would spell change. This was something Koi only appreciated in his readings.

"Honey, meet you're new brother, Draz." Instantly suspicious, the Krawk jerked his eyes forward to see a Green Ixi being set in front of him. "O...K..." he sized the violet-eyed and emerald-furred youth up, noting his untouched appearance and innocent expression with jealousy.

"OK, what?" Raz was being geniune about this.

"What's the catch?" Koi looked up into the girl's eyes with even more suspicion. "First you change me into this overrated reptile, now you say I have a new sibling?"

"This is your-,"

"He's not my _brother._ " Koi looked away, recalling other memories. "You can't just finish off with me and say that you've settled on your final pet." Raz stood there looking at the pet she called her child.

The Desert Kougra placed a paw on her brother's light gray shoulder to which he yanked away. "You just wait! One of these days, she'll change you too."

"Koi!" Kid said in shock as the Krawk sniffed and ran out of the kitchen, trying to hold back his tears.

Raz fell to her knees. "I've never been really good at this, have I?" she lifted up the bubbling grey potion.

Maui wrapped her arms around ripple_razberry and the brown-haired girl hugged her with her free arm.

"Me and Koi have been with you since you adopted us." She reminded her, Kid and drazukar sent Raz trusting smiles as well. "You make mistakes, we all do at times. But we still love you like you love us."

Raz accepted a group hug with a bittersweet smile.

Later that day...

"Is there any way we can get you to change your mind?" Maui implored. Koi just glared at her over the top of his snout. "Oh, come _on,_ Koilembala... we're still here." She puffed out her cream chest.

He almost grinned at her. So maybe his old tomboy sister wasn't a treacherous tabby after all. This notion was refuted, however, when she placed her curled-up paws on her hips. Koi sighed and finished loading his small wooden ship; one of the luxuries of pirate life.

"You know you might be taking this whole pirate-life-thing a little too literally, champ." She offered wryly, lifting a fine, thin black brow. "You don't see me Egpytian-walking into the Lost Desert, do you?"

Koi sighed again and joined her on the docks. The weather in the Neopian Harbor would be rough on this cloudy-gray day, but this old navigator would not have it any other way. He offered his claw.

"Wish me luck, big sis."

Maui's striped face grew saddened. She brought him in for an unexpected hug that was so sudden, he did not have time to remember the last time she'd been so affectionate towards him. He patted her back, resting his scaly chin on her shoulder. His eyebrows creased.

"OK," the Krawk pulled away, "I better get out there if I'm going to ride these waves. See you when I do."

His sister looked too much like a crestfallen maiden.

A goofy smile formed on his snout. "Hey! I was born a Koi, remember?" He suddenly remembered the last time they had hugged; it was during his Ice Bori days some years ago. "Ocean is in my...well, in my veins."

"And what will we do when we lose you?"

He didn't look at her this time. "You have a new little brother at home," his voice was without emotion, "If worst comes to worst, remember me as I was."

Maui watched with a crushed expression as younger, more fashionably dressed Neopets raced around her. They admired the experienced Krawk sailing off for dangers unknown until their owners' (or pet parents') and older siblings called them back. _I'll remember you as you are,_ she thought while touching the seed-bead pattern over her heart. Maui slowly realized in that moment what Koi had been explaining all along.

Or, she shuddered now, what he had _tried_ to explain.

Out on the open sea...

Koilembala stirred the small wooden ship within an inch of it's wreckage, meticulously scouting the seas with one eye and thanking Fyora he hadn't worn his patch over the other. The Krawk expertly tugged on a rope and pulley at times to adjust his sails. In a bid to further keep his mind off things and to look more professional, the Neopet pondered buying a peg leg.

"Or," he grinned to himself, "I could always plunder one." The thought of making Raz mad lifted his spirits.

The "pirate" reached over towards his treasure chest cooler for a Neocola when someone caught his claw.

"GACK!" He leapt back and drew out his sword. In his mind he was mimicking his former crew mates as they sailed the Neopian sea; Koi felt the corners of his muzzle curl up as he crouched to spring.

"That's a funny toy," a green head popped out of the Plushie-filled chest, "Can I play dress up next, Koi?"

The Krawk's eyes dilated.

"I thought you were back with Raz... back at home!"

The ignorant little Ixi cocked his head. "I thought you told Raz home is just a state of mind." he had no idea what he was saying, "Hey! How come your name is Koi but you're a Krawk? Can I be one, too?"

Koi's snout wrinkled back over his bared fangs.

" _You_..."

"How come no one's stirring the ship?" Draz asked.

The Krawk extended his claws out to grab the Ixi.

"Can I be a pirate, too?" His intended target asked a little more quietly. The big violet eyes looking up at the angry reptile caused Koi to step back. "I promise I'll be a good pirate, Koi, and a Krawk and a brother, too." Koi straightened up and looked down at Draz with a pair of saddened eyes. "I'll be your best brother ever, Koi. So you'll want me as one. Can I do that?"

Koi shut his lids and shook his head, "Do what you want," he murmured as he stirred the ship towards Mystery Island. "Hey! This doesn't look right." As he turned to retrieve his compass from the chest, he saw drazukar chewing on it. Koi's muzzle twitched as his eyes widened unnervingly. "Oh, never mind! Fungus wart." he cursed as they landed on a spit of shore.

"Fungus wart!?" Draz laughed jovially, hopping off as the Krawk pulled up and tied the ship to a small, sturdy shrub. "What's that, Koi? And where are we?"

" _I'm_ heading into town to see what part of the island I've landed on," Koi rose a bit too confidently, acting like he was brushing the sand from his claws. "While you, most precious Fungus Wart, are to remain at all times with this vessel. Besides, my Fleeper is at home."

"I thought you had a Fangy."

Koi looked down at him skeptically.

Draz blinked up at him, smiling. "Can I have a Krawk petpet?"

He didn't have time for this! "Look, drazukar, just stay with the ship and don't go anywhere. I'm going into town to message Raz so she can wire me a few dubloons to get you on the next ferry home."

"But wouldn't you keep them in your pirate chest?"

Koi flinched as he headed off, clenching his fists.

"I really appreciate your letting me come with you."

"Uh-huh." He trudged over to a grove of trees.

"I was beginning to think you didn't like me, Captain Koi." The Krawk bared his teeth but secretly smiled.

"Yeah, sure kid."

"So you can be the captain and I'll be your first-,"

Koi dashed through the trees and headed straight for a dark cove. He would have wondered at the strange place he had never been to, but he was having some trouble seeing. _Oh, wait,_ Koi remembered then. The Krawk pulled out, stuffed it inside his muzzle and bonked himself on the head.

As light streamed through his eyes and nostrils, the Krawk began feeling more thankful towards Raz. Everything, save for some snatches of shadow, was illuminated. _Better check this place for dubloons,_ he thought. Koi had a hard time not grinning as he headed into the damp, glistening cove.

Points of rock jutted from almost every direction in sparkly limestone while strange, colorful stones were buried in the sandy piles. Koi noticed that there were definite areas of former visitation wherever he looked. The gray-blue lizard scratched one side of his scaly scalp; this was _Mystery_ Island, was it not? He stepped over an outcropping of limestone.

So where was all the mystery at? This wave of disappointment was nothing compared to the all-consuming annoyance he felt towards an inquiring Ixi who was _suppose_ to be with the ship. Koi started shaking.

"Are you okay, Koilembala?"

"No!" He seethed. "I just realized that everything I remembered from my pirate days... err, when I was a kid _..._ " Koi clutched at his snout. "Is gone! I can't believe I even came here. What was the point? It's all over."

"Well, there is one good thing."

His reptalian guardian sniffed. "Really? What?"

"You have me here."

Just as the Krawk was about to pounce on him, a thousand yellow eyes blinked from the wall of darkness in front of them. Koilembala and drazukar both set their sights upon an entire force of glistening teeth and wrinkled muzzles. The adult pet gulped like he had never been a pirate as hundreds of tiny petpets growled at both him and Draz. They were all angry and annoyed. They were all Krawks.

But the biggest irony of all was that Koi couldn't navigate for turnips: This was Krawk Island!

"Do you think they want to be my petpet?"

Koi would have looked upon Draz with pity had the pint-sized army not started ascending on them. At a quick leap, Koilembala had already cleared twenty feet and was almost to the cove's exit when he saw that drazukar was nowhere beside him. The Krawk watched with horror as more tiny lizards emerged from the fungal crevices his flashlight had missed. He was almost completely backed out of the cove when he saw a _real_ storm was starting to brew outside and a ship of REAL pirates was landing next to what was by now clearly a toy ship to Koi. This made him wilt.

The Krawk turned back to the approaching lizards, knew that it was too late for his little brother Draz, and lifted his arms back like one would wait for the wind to hit them. He stood there dramtically as the petpets rushed past him and met their happy owners at the shore's edge. The Krawk wrinkled his muzzle.

All that suspense and for _what?!_ So he wouldn't get eaten by his own kind after all? What a jip! Koi tried and failed to keep the smile off of his face as the little Ixi ran out of the cove... directly into his big Krawk brother's arms, which Koi was shocked to see close around him. The wet, shaking pet clutched his waist.

"I'm... I'm sorry! I diso... I disobeyed you! Bi..bi-,"

Koilembala lifted him up and crushed the soaked child to him, his warm smile growing. "Come on," The Pirate Krawk pulled off his favorite maroon blazer and draped it over the small pet, drazukar lifted his arms and whipped the sleeves that were much too long for him around. "Let's go home."

Draz beamed up at the Krawk's fond look and they headed back to the tiny wooden ship as the huge storm came to a head. Now _this_ was sailing weather.

"Koi, am I still your Fungus Wart?"

"No," He refused to look the Ixi's way.

"I'm not?" The pet blinked.

"Nope," the Krawk gave his arm an assuring pat as he lowered the wooden ladder. "You're my brother."

The Ixi grinned up at him. "Nope!"

"No?" Koi was amused but also confused.

"Nope..." Draz jumped up and gave him a tight hug.

Tears filled Koi's eyes and he hugged him back for a very different reason now. "OK, I give. First-mate, then?"

"Wrong again," He pulled away, "I'm _your_ brother."

They both smiled and headed out for stormy seas.

"Oh, and never tell Maui I hugged you back. She'll get her mind made up that I've gone soft. OK, kid?"

"Yes, Captain! Hey, was it okay that I took this treasure chest off of that other ship?"

Koi lowered his head and sailed away as fast as he could.

The End.


End file.
